Frankie and Johnny Are Married is not a documentary. But the film - which had its world premiere at the Montreal World Film Festival Sunday - is also not exactly a work of fiction. The indie flick, written and directed by Emmy-Award-winning director/producer Michael Pressman, mixes up fact and fiction to create an odd sort of real-life drama.

This blending of the real and imagined is increasingly common on the big screen these days thanks to recent high-profile examples like Adaptation, which featured screenwriter Charlie Kaufman as the main character, and American Splendor, which uses documentary footage and dramatic re-enactments to tell the life story of comic-book author Harvey Pekar.

With Frankie and Johnny Are Married, "certain things have been embellished, but the seed of the whole thing is based in truth," said Lisa Chess, who is a struggling actress and Pressman's wife.

In the film, she plays a struggling actress who happens to be married to a well-known TV producer.

"We're exploring a new form of autobiography," said Pressman, who stars in Frankie and Johnny Are Married as - you guessed it - a well-known TV producer named Michael Pressman.

Pressman has served as executive producer on the Emmy-winning series Picket Fences, The Guardian and Chicago Hope.

Two and a half years ago, Pressman made the rather rash decision to use his own money to stage a production in Los Angeles of the Terrence McNally play titled Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, starring his wife and directed by himself. This ill-advised venture was very nearly a total disaster, but both Pressman and Chess now think it was a magical moment.

That true story is the inspiration for Frankie and Johnny Are Married. But Pressman's script takes some liberties with the truth to add drama and laughs to the tale.

"I feel we've come up with a good yarn that's based on real experience," said Pressman. "The hardest thing to do is to make the drama seem real, to make things look like an accident. Everything was scripted, rehearsed, and staged to make it look like that wasn't the case. The real challenge is to create a story that has drama and humour, so that it doesn't just become one's own home movie."

In real life, the actor hired to play Johnny in the play left the production after one preview performance to make a film and the show had to be closed. Months later, Pressman brought it back to life by taking over the role of Johnny, playing opposite his wife as Johnny's lover Frankie. The result was a critical hit - although, as the film's epilogue underlines, he lost some real money. Pressman said it cost him between $75,000 and $80,000. He says it was money well-spent.

"For me, not only do I not have any regrets, it's been the greatest thing we've ever done, aside from our child," said Pressman. "We turned a very painful experience in the theatre into a wonderful experience in the movies."

In the film, Alan Rosenberg - whose face will be familiar to even the most casual TV viewer thanks to starring roles in Chicago Hope, Cybill, L.A. Law and Civil Wars - plays the difficult actor who leaves the production after only one performance. He is brilliant as the prima dona actor with delusions of Pacino/Hoffman-like grandeur. Pressman says the actor who played Johnny in the stage show was difficult, but Pressman freely admits he cranked up the idiosyncrasies of the character to make the movie more entertaining.

Another neat twist in Frankie and Johnny is the presence of cameos by some of Pressman's high-powered Hollywood friends playing themselves, including uber-TV-producer and frequent Pressman collaborator David E. Kelley, actor Mandy Patinkin, and CBS head Les Moonves.

Pressman worked with Kelley on Picket Fences and Chicago Hope, and they're back together for Kelley's latest series, The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire, which debuts this fall on CBS.

Pressman is executive producer of Poland and he also directed the pilot and the first episode of the one-hour drama, which he describes as a show about family and the ties that bind three brothers.

Pressman has had a hand in some of the better shows of the past decade, so it's not entirely surprising to hear that he is dismayed by the proliferation of lowest-common-denominator reality shows.

"It's tragic," Pressman said, "but the fad will pass.

"In truth, these quality dramas last much longer than these passing fads. Look at how long ER and Law and Order have lasted."

Pressman and Chess believe that quality shows - and films - will find audiences, which is why they're confident that there is a niche out there for Frankie and Johnny Are Married.

"I believe the film could grow into a sizeable hit," said Pressman. "It's a romantic comedy."

Adds Chess: "My big fat Greek Frankie and Johnny!"

Frankie and Johnny Are Married screens twice more at the Montreal World Film Festival: tomorrow at 1:20 p.m. at the Eaton Centre 3 and Friday at 7:20 p.m. at the Eaton Centre 3.

bkelly@thegazette.canwest.com

Photo Credit: Richard Arless Jr., Gazette